You’re waiting for your transplant. So are many others, around the nation. Here, in the greater New York metropolitan area, how does LiveOnNY know which transplant center or centers to call?

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) computer generates a list of potential recipients based on factors that include genetic similarity, blood type, organ size, medical urgency and time on the waiting list.

Through this process, a new list is generated each time an organ becomes available that best matches a patient to a donated organ. Each organ is evaluated for possible donation individually.

In the United States, organs are placed locally, then regionally, then nationally.